Archive for August, 2010

How do you feel when you are served chicken biryani for dinner and not the usual dal-chawal? Well, some like it usual and some (including me) love surprises. The music of Peepli Live is one such full of revelations. With names like Swanand Kirkire, Indian Ocean, Raghubir Yadav, Nageen Tanvir and Ram Sampath (most of which u haven’t ever heard of) am sure you will think, “What’s this?”

Discounting the remixes which I usually ignore the movie has four wonderful songs including cholamati ke ram, deshmera, mehngaidayain and zindagi se darte ho. Each one has a unique feel but equally mesmerizing. The Hindi is not the usual Khariboli and borrows heavily from local dialects spoken in and around Madhya Pradesh except one which has predominantly Urdu sprayed all over. I found it a bit difficult to understand the lyrics so had to read it once and was fascinated by such use of language.

chola mati ke ram – 4/5

With lyrics by Chhattisgarhi folk singer Gangaram Siwar (1930-1982) and music by Nageen Tanvir, this is perhaps the finest piece from the movie. It tells us about the fickle nature of death and the good things that need to be done in one’s life. The music is rustic and practical and the voice of Nageen equally stunning. Don’t miss it for anything. For people heavily addicted to popular music, read the lyrics once n let the song grown on you.

desh mera – 4/5

This one has lyrics by Sanjeev Sharma and Swanand Kirkire and music and vocals by the band Indian Ocean. It’s a peppy satire on the state-of-affairs in India albeit with subtlety. It’s not on-your-face but yet effective. The lyric is amazing and when you have Kirkire saab on board u expected magic nonetheless. The tunes catch fast on you and you are left spell-bound. A must listen for all and it probably might turn out to be popular with the masses.

mehngai dayain – 4/5

I had no idea in the world that Raghubir Yadav could sing and sing it so well. This is the peppiest of all the songs and as the name suggests hymns about how cruel inflation has become. The lyrics by Kirkire saab is magical yet again and fitting as a satire for the blindfolded government apathetic to the social divide. The music by Ram Sampath is worth all the praise. The choreography reminded me of Indian theatre (nautanki and tamasha) and how good it can be. Miss it at your own stake.

zindagi se darte ho – 3/5

Set to tune and sung by Indian Ocean with lyrics penned by Noon Meem Rashid the song is set on slow pace and high on lyrics and metaphor. When you realize that the song deshmera is also sung by Indian Ocean it goes on to prove how competent the band is. The words are poetic and mostly Urdu but for some reason I find it not as much compelling as the other three. If understood nicely the lyric is worth a million dollar itself.

I am not sure how many of you actually like folk songs but believe me they are like a hidden treasure (a silent reference of which is also made in the movie). Once you realize how attached to the soul of India it is and how meaningful and catchy they can be, there would be no looking back.

How can one forget the famous speech made by Jawaharlal Nehru on the stroke of midnight when India gained freedom from many years of British rule? Of the many promises that were made and the duties made to realize one strikes me hard after 63 years of independence because of the sheer futility of it.

“The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.”

The entire speech was high on optimism and service and perhaps one of the finest independence speeches I have heard. I am not going to be a critic on Nehru or Gandhi because that will never serve the purpose. History is one fascinating thing. It’s addictive and vindictive at the same time.

Nehru also said, “Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.” It is but a travesty of sorts for the prevailing situation in India. How long will we keep an eye on the future and do nothing for the present?

Regarding the duties which he bestowed upon us, the one that I liked the most was when he said, “But freedom brings responsibilities and burdens and we have to face them in the spirit of a free and disciplined people.” I am not sure about whether the whole of us follow this but we certainly don’t stand to whine about the effects without giving the efforts. It’s as simple as that. A country is not a piece of land but the people. It would be outright foolish to think that we don’t have the ropes in our hands. We always have it, just that we are lazy enough to play it lose or tight.

The closing lines of the famous speech made by Nehru would have made India a star in the truest of self had we (and this doesn’t rule out the ruling class) followed it word by word.

“The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.

We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be.

We are citizens of a great country, on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.”

Let the symbolism of this day fly by in a matter of days, let the high-handedness we see around go to hell. We are responsible, powerful and educated enough to bring about a revolution and a revolution will happen for sure. History tells us, anarchy never stayed for long. It’s the law of nature to bring back things to normal otherwise life would have been so meaningless.

Our nation has definitely stridden past its days of agony and we are proud of our achievements, no matter however little or insignificant. It’s not about the triumphs but about the things that we can still do and fulfill the promises long made (who made them is not my concern). This is our own land after all and we are our own people.

We all know the good from the bad and ugly. It’s just a matter of time and understanding of responsibilities from at least our side. Individual errands if fulfilled with dedication and the basic principles of nation building followed good, I don’t see why our nation can’t stop showing the world just news of poverty, naxalism, poor governance, illiteracy, disease, unemployment, crime, corruption, fundamentalism, bureaucracy, social inequality, parochialism and clannish tendencies from this wonderful piece of land that is India.

There is much to say, a fire within, much to write but I believe in action and not mere words which if left undone makes u look hollow n incompetent and I wouldn’t love that tag for me. I just pray that everyone gets a sense of duty towards nation building and from their busy schedules try to take out time n read as much as possible about our exotic land and do something to inculcate within ourselves a sense of unity, integration, discipline, belonging, consensus, inclusiveness and power. Anything above that is surely a bonus.

looks like i can only click pictures now, nothing comes to my idle mind..

but am still young then why are ideas so elusive to me?

while i do all the thinking and come up with some write-up before the next thursday challenge here is a picture which i took on 12th august, 2010 particularly for this challenge..

it was taken in a dark room with a just an incandescent bulb flashed on two glasses full of water (one dark n one light for the contrast in colors), some ice and fresh apricots which i bought for 100 bucks esp for this..